AME-NO-TORIFUNE-NO-GYO

Sometimes called Fune-kogi-undo. Ame-no-torifune is one of the Misogi Jumbi Tais

o or exercises to prepare the mind/ body/ spirit for the activity of Misogi Shuh
o (purification in free flowing water). Ame no torifune no gyo is also commonly
used as the Aiki jumbi taiso.
Torifune (Bird Rowing)
1. Stand straight and put your left leg forward
2. Clench both fists with your thumbs inside
3. Lean forward and move your arms as though rowing a boat starting from your le
ft knee and ending near your *armpits. As you "row," shout "Yie".
4. Perform this 20 times and then repeat Furitama
5. Changing to a right leg stance, repeat the Torifune shouting "Ei" and "Ho" al
ternately. Do this 20 times and then repeat Furitama
6. Return to the left foot forward stance and remake the clenched fists as befor
e and bring the hands up to the chest to a shout of "Yie" and thrust them down a
nd forward with hands opened and fingers extended to a shout of "Se" After this,
once again repeat the Furitama
The Object of Torifune-no-gyo
The basic purpose is to introduce a dimension of physical calisthenics along wit
h the spiritual. Since misogi and also Aiki Keiko are psycho-physical experience
s, both types of preperatory exercises are necessary. " Torifune-no-gyo (done pr
operly) is very grounding and invigorating. The kiai organizes the hara centripet
ality/contraction and centrifugality existing simultaneously while grounding rel
ates very directly to the organization we want to manifest during Aiki waza.
TAMA FURI/ Furitama-no-Gyo
Tama (soul) Furi (shake) basic meaning is the self Chin-kon and relates directly
to the furube-no-kamu-waza of Chinkon Saho.
Furitama ( Soul Shaking)
1. Stand with your legs apart about shoulder width .
2. Place your hands together with the right hand over the left. Leave space betw
een them big enough for an imaginary ping pong ball.
3. Place your hands in that position in front of your stomach and 0shake them vi
gorously up and down.
4. While shaking them concentrate and repeat the words: Harae-do-no-Okami - an i
nvocation to the kami of the place of harai.
The Object Furitama-no-gyo
The purpose of shaking the soul is to generate awareness of it within yourself.
Kon, (the soul), in Shinto, is one of the four important elements along with Mei
(life), Rei (spirit) and Ki (which means Spirit in its causal aspect - Ki is a
kind of energy source). Kon is the most important of the four since human beings
can also be described as Waketama (separated individual souls), which is anothe

r way of saying "children of the kami".

Chinkon kanji can also be read as Mitama Shizume..the basic meanings are:
1) to reintegrate the elements of self/soul into the current moment
2) to quiet or pacify the soul
3) to invigorate the soul
4) The kanji of Chin-kon can also be read Sho Kon and carry the nuance of pacify
ing and assisting the raising of vibration for the Mitama of a person who has le
ft this life
Tama-furi aims at the reception of strong spiritual waves/higher spirit/ refined
vibration.
The aim of activities of Shinto Gyo (tuning practices) Misogi Harai (self purifi
cation) is to quiet and reinvigorate the very soul these activities can be calle
d
1) misogi harai
2) mitama-furi
3) tama-furi
4) mitama shizume
5) chin-kon
all these are written with the same kanji these activities relate directly to th
e function of I-buki-do-nushi-no-Ou kami who is one of the Harae-do-no-Ou-kami a
nd deals directly with purification by out breath.
===============
2. Place your hands together with the right hand over the left. Leave space betw
een them big enough for an imaginary ping pong ball.
#2, right over left? i was taught by Saotome sensei that it was left over right.
he mentioned something about left is heaven and right is earth. also he said to
shake from the inside not the hands. lets see if i can repeat his japonglish "h
ands no shake. move inside! (as he pointed to his hara)" just like Ikeda sensei
usually said "move your inside", i.e. flipping your kidneys around
Saotome sensei also pushed my chest to see if i stay centered as well as place h
is hand beneath my hands and tried to lift me up to make sure my arms weren't co
llapsing or rigid. he also told a story about O Sensei made him do this thing, t
hen went away for awhile. Saotome sensei would get bored and weren't paying atte
ntion to the exercise. O Sensei came back and yelled at him for not doing it rig
ht and corrected him. also, Saotome sensei didn't make us chant; otherwise, we w
ould have been chanting: 99 bottle beers on the wall.....
anyway, right over left or left over right, methink, wasn't the real part. it's
the "move inside", that's the real thing.
*standard disclaimer of IS idiots again*
-----------

Hello Mr. Truong,

As for the Furitama....in the original Jinja Shinto exercise, during Jumbi Taiso
it is generally right over left with the exception of the time of the "Furube-n
o-kamu-waza" of the formal Chinkon Saho....interestingly enough what I believe S
aotome Sensei and Ikeda Sensei where alluding to regarding move your insides is
quite esoteric Shinto practice..in ancient times the general thinking was that o
nes Mitama/ soul could easily rather become dislodged from the body. This thinki
ng is the origin of many aspects of the practice of Chinkon Meditation. The orig
in of Mitamafuri or Furitama had to do with the shaking of the Kannadakara while
repeating the Hi-fu-Mi norito/ a mantra of counting from 1 to 10 in order to re
call a wandering Mitama. This is also the thinking behind Tamamusubi or the tyin
g of 10 knots into a piece of string as well as the practice of shaking a box co
ntaining the clothing of an ill person 10 times in order to seat the soul more f
irmly in the body/ hara. The moving of the " insides" refers to consciously movi
ng the center through a series of circles of 10---- vertically, to the left, to
the right, on the centerline anti-clockwise, clockwise, horizontally to the left
, horizontally to the right and again vertically. This type of "spiritual calist
henic" is the basic of Chinkon's Furube-no-kamu-waza...it is really very great t
hat Saotome Sensei and Ikeda Sensei are transmitting the heart of this important
practice.....
FURITAMA:
re: Furitama ( Soul Shaking)
1. Stand with your legs apart about shoulder width .
2. Place your hands together with the right hand over the left. Leave space
between them big enough for an imaginary ping pong ball.
3. Place your hands in that position in front of your stomach and shake
them vigorously up and down.
4. While shaking them concentrate and repeat the words: Harae-do-no-Okami an invocation to the kami of the place of harai.
The Object of Furitama
The purpose of shaking the soul is to generate awareness of it within
yourself. Kon, (the soul), in Shinto, is one of the four important elements
along with Mei (life), Rei (spirit) and Ki (which means Spirit in its causal
aspect - Ki is a kind of energy source). Kon is the most important of the
four since human beings can also be described as Waketama (separated
individual souls), which is another way of saying "children of the kami".
As for the practice of Furitama, sometimes called Mitamafuri....lit. to shake th
e soul.... this is a really very important exercise..through Kaiso/ the Aikido f
ounder it is true that many people in various Aiki traditions practise, but ofte
n without understanding. The origins of the movements are:
1) from Furube no Kamu waza of Chinkon Saho = the movements of Shinto active med
itation
2) Misogi Shuho Jumbi Taiso = exercises such as Ame-no-torifune and furitama com
e from the movements used to activate the mind/spirit/body for ritual purificati
on in moving water.
Chinkon is also called mitamashizume or mitamafuri. Mitamashizume means to pacif
y the spirit and settle it in the center of the body. Mitamafuri means to reinvi

gorate the withered soul by shaking a ritual object or the human body. It also m
eans beckoning a spirit into the body.
Misogi (purification) and chinkon are the two most important practices of Shinto
. We practice misogi to cleanse our body and mind of obscuring KI and to create
the opening for the fresh new Ki and possibilities, and then practice chinkon to
calm/ integrate the spirit and to connect to the divine world. Every morning as
part of Chouhai/ morning prayer we practice chinkon. Here at Tsubaki Grand Shri
ne of America we also practice Chinkon after each Aiki Keiko and very formally e
ach Saturday morning.
...........during Furitama while standing, an important note is that it is advis
able to raise up onto the balls of your feet and extend KI downward through your
foot chakras and receive the echo of that extension through the same channel.
...and yes the "move inside" is exactly the real thing...................
------------One furhter question:
First I learned torifune with opening-and-closing the fists.
I then learned it with closed fists, thumbs outside.
I finally was taught to do it with closed fists thumbs inside. (Which I find in
the explanations of Rev. Barrish.)
But I experience it "difficult" to do torifune this
tation. It feels like the dantian rotation "pushes"
Or if there is a "contradiction".
I also experience it "difficult" when using dantian
my arms/fists around their axes. (Like Ueshiba does

way when "adding" dantian ro

the thumbs out of the fists.
rotation to not also rotate
in the video.)

Thoughts (or experiences)?

Quote:
Phi Truong wrote
anyway, right over left or left over right, methink, wasn't the real part. it's
the "move inside", that's the real thing.
My aikido teacher is also teacher of a koryu. And when he teaches something of t
he "esoteric stuff", it is always important whether right or left do ... whateve
r they do.
In most cases you can immediatly feel the difference. And very often what he tea
ches is different from what I was used to up to then.
-----------===============
Quote:
Carsten Mllering wrote: View Post
But I experience it "difficult" to do torifune this
tation. It feels like the dantian rotation "pushes"
Or if there is a "contradiction".
I also experience it "difficult" when using dantian
my arms/fists around their axes. (Like Ueshiba does
.

way when "adding" dantian ro

the thumbs out of the fists.
rotation to not also rotate
in the video.)

i used the aiki-age-sage (the begin of aikisage is aikiage) and aiki-sage-age ap

proaches from the roppokai for the hands (not really the hands, as the hands exp
ress the internal things in your body - it's one of those power from the legs, c
ontrol by the middle and express to the arms/hands thingy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vd79...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIfUg...eature=related
i believed Sigman's folks called this winding/unwinding; Dan's folks, spirals; o
thers, take the slack out of your body and the other bugger's body; and phi's fo
lks (which only included phi and his many other personalities) how to make this
crap work like magic so we can go carousing.
it's just me. i added stuffs that i interested me, just for fun. YMMV.
*you know the usual disclaimer so i won't mention it here*